VOLLEYBALL: Lady Chaps impressive in sweep of FPC

MC put the Plainsmen on their heels early and rolled to a 25-10, 25-5, 25-18 sweep of FPC at Chaparral Center.

The Lady Chaps (16-8, 9-3) leap-frogged the Plainsmen (16-10, 8-4) in the WJCAC standings, as the two teams along with No. 14-ranked New Mexico Military Institute entered Saturday's play in a three-way tie for second. Midland College also avenged a four-set road loss to FPC on Sept. 28.

Zoe Fernandez led MC with 15 kills, Miranda Acosta posted team highs with 13 digs and three aces and Julia Kabala tallied 28 assists.

"I'm really proud of their performance overall," Lady Chaps head coach Tammie Jimenez said. "They executed a great plan overall. Ultimately, they understood that it's always a choice to come out and put forth the effort every day in practice, on game days. If we make the choice to make our best effort, these are the results that we can have."

MC started the match on fire with an 8-0 run behind three kills from Petra Fernandez, who missed a double-double with 12 kills and nine digs.

The Lady Chaps led 14-3 at one point in the first set following a Laura Milori kill, which was set by Kabala.

On the 25th point, Milori fell to the court during a prolonged volley and had to be helped off the court with a leg injury. Milori, a sophomore outside hitter, did not return.

"We don't know what her prognosis is just yet, but it's our hope that we can give her some time to rest and recover and she'll be back in time for when we need her," Jimenez said.

"She's a big contributor just offensively, defensively she does well, but I think her energy is infectious and that's something the team needs," Jimenez added. "She's going to be a voice that's going to missing for a little bit, but even when she's on the bench, you can still hear her voice and she's still contributing to the team. It's just nice to have that on the floor."

Despite the setback to Milori, the Lady Chaps didn't let it affect them, as they played even better in the second set with a dominant 20-3 run.

At one point, Petra Fernandez was responsible for three straight points scored with two aces and a kill to finish a long volley.

MC scored 11 straight points at one point.

"We just came out with more fire," Acosta said. "We're really working for what we want and with that, we just have to put everything out on this court. So, that's what we did. We just came out with fire and just grit, and we were determined to do what we needed to do."

The Plainsmen finally took their first lead in the third set to go up 17-16 on a Lady Chaps' hitting error.

However, the Lady Chaps put together another impressive flurry to bury FPC, finishing on a 9-1 run. MC won the last six points of the set.

MC still has two tough matches to close out conference play, as it hosts New Mexico Military Institute at 6 p.m. Wednesday before visiting rival Odessa College on Oct. 29.

"It's going to be great games," Acosta said. "It just comes down to whoever wants it more and whoever wants to work for it."